Reusing ZGC forwarding table for other GCs/Lilliput?

[Roman Kennke]

>> Hello GC folks,
>>
>> I am thinking about how to solve the following problem in Lilliput: I 
>> am now at a point where I can store the compressed Klass* in the 
>> object header. However, GCs are still using the current separate 
>> (compressed) Klass* to restore the header after GC. If we were to get 
>> rid of the Klass* word, then we'd have nothing to restore the Klass* 
>> in the header from because it is overridden by the forwarding pointer. 
>> This is only a problem that affects sliding GCs like Serial and 
>> Parallel GC, and G1's and Shenandoah STW full-GCs. Relocating GCs (G1 
>> concurrent and Shenandoah concurrent) don't have this because there we 
>> have the to-space copy which carries the original header.
>>
>> One possible solution would be to preserve *all* marks (of moving 
>> objects) instead of only those which have a hashcode or locking bits. 
>> The advantage is that PreservedMarks is a very compact table and is 
>> simple to manage. The downside is that if we preserve-marks we will 
>> have a problem if we require the Klass* during GC, and we do, when we 
>> scan the heap. Unless we use a mark bitmap for scanning, which is not 
>> currently used in Serial/ParallelGC afaik.
>>
>> That's why I'm thinking that an external forwarding table to manage 
>> forwarding information might be the best way to go. And since ZGC 
>> already has a forwarding table for exactly that purpose, I am 
>> wondering if it is generic enough to also be used outside ZGC, or if 
>> there is anything intrinsic in its design that makes it only useful in 
>> ZGC context, and we'd rather implement a more generic forwarding table 
>> for other GCs.
> 
> While reusing the concept might be a good idea, the actual code (i.e. 
> ZForwardingTable/ZForwarding/ZForwardingEntry) will probably not be a 
> great fit for other GCs. These classes carry quite a lot of ZGC specific 
> information with ties to data structures like ZPage, ZVirtualMemory, 
> ZGranuleMap, etc.

Ok thanks, Per! I will study it and make up my mind how to proceed!

Roman